Summary: Exercise (page 213)

“I am going to tell you a chilling story”. Do you see the scars on my face? They are marks of torture. I was beaten up by members of my extended family who insisted I was a witch and that I should make a public confession. I wasn’t a witch! I didn’t even know what it meant to be a witch. I was only eight years old when the first attempt at extracting a confession from me was made. My favourite aunt had just died. Two days before, she had told me she was going on a long journey and she would not be coming back. I had asked her where she was going. She had replied, “To Papa in heaven”. In my childhood innocence, I had broadcast this to the hearing of everyone. So when she died the following day, it was presumed I must have killed her. I was taken to a native healer who tied me up and asked them to beat me up if I refused to confess and tell them the source of my powers. [They dug their fingers into my face and thrashed me with special whips provided by the healer]. “Not a drop of tear is coming from her eyes. Only witches don’t cry,” they added. I passed out and woke up in the hospital several days later. When my parents came to see me, they confirmed that I had always been stone-hearted, never once shedding tears no matter how sad everyone was. I was a mystery. I wish I could cry like most of you but not a drop of tears has ever come down my cheeks. I have paid for it in different ways. My friends and classmates think I have no emotions and avoid me like the plague. My gap tooth doesn’t help matters too. People think I am smiling whenever I open my mouth. I have seen people cry for joy but for me no matter how charged the situation is, shedding tears is impossible.

                   “My doctor has tried to explain the reason why I have been unable to cry. He says, “There are three types of tears generated in the human eye. The Basal tears protect the eye and keep it moist. Reflex tears flush out the eye when it becomes irritated. Emotional tears are produced as a means of communication. It flows in response to sadness, distress or physical pain. There are many reasons for one’s inability to cry”. My doctor said in my own case the inability to cry may be caused by a rare genetic affliction. Even though I experience emotions like everyone else, I was born without the reflex necessary to produce tears.

(Nigerian Tribune, 14 October 2010, page 40)